Saturday, December 09, 2006

very interesting

record of military service among us politicians and pundits:

DEMOCRATS:

  • John Kerry: Lt., Navy 1966-70; Silver Star, Bronze Star with Combat V, Purple Hearts.
  • Tom Daschle: 1st Lt., Air Force SAC 1969-72.
  • Richard Gephardt: Air National Guard, 1965-71.
  • Al Gore: enlisted Aug. 1969; sent to Vietnam Jan. 1971 as an army journalist in 20th Engineer Brigade
  • Bill Clinton: Did not serve. Student deferments. Entered draft but received #311.
  • Jack Reed: Army Ranger, 1971-1979; Captain, Army Reserve 1979-91.
  • Leonard Boswell: Lt. Col., Army 1956-76; Vietnam, DFCs, BronzeStars,and Soldier's Medal.
  • Gray Davis: Army Captain in Vietnam, Bronze Star.
  • Chuck Robb: Vietnam
  • David Bonior: Staff Sgt., Air Force 1968-72.
  • Bob Kerrey: Lt. j.g. Navy 1966-69; Medal of Honor, Vietnam.
  • Tom Harkin: Lt., Navy, 1962-67; Naval Reserve, 1968-74.
  • John Glenn: WWII and Korea; six DFCs and AirMedal with 18 Clusters.
  • Charles Rangel: Staff Sgt., Army 1948-52; Bronze Star, Korea.
  • Ted Kennedy: Army, 1951-53.
  • Walter Mondale: Army 1951-1953
  • Daniel Inouye: Army 1943-47; Medal of Honor, WWII.
  • George McGovern: Silver Star & DFC during WWII.
  • Jimmy Carter: Seven years in the Navy.
  • Fritz Hollings: Army officer in WWII; Bronze Star and seven campaign ribbons.
  • Pete Peterson: Air Force Captain, POW. Purple Heart, Silver Star and Legion of Merit.
  • Mike Thompson: Staff sergeant, 173rd Airborne, Purple Heart.
  • Bill McBride: Candidate for Fla. Governor. Marine in Vietnam; Bronze, Star with Combat V.
  • Pete Stark: Air Force 1955-57
  • Howell Heflin: Silver Star
  • Tom Lantos: Served in Hungarian underground in WWII. Saved by Raoul Wallenberg.

· and Max Cleland: Captain, Army 1965-68; Silver Star & Bronze Star, Vietnam. Paraplegic from war injuries. Served in Congress.

REPUBLICANS -- and these are the guys SENDING YOUNG KIDS TO WAR:

  • Dick Cheney: did not serve. Several deferments, the last by marriage
  • Dennis Hastert: did not serve.
  • Tom Delay: did not serve.
  • Bill Frist: did not serve.
  • Rick Santorum: did not serve.
  • Trent Lott: did not serve.
  • John Ashcroft: did not serve. Seven deferments to teach business.
  • Jeb Bush: did not serve.
  • Karl Rove (Bush’s chief “architect” or “puppet master”): did not serve.
  • Paul Wolfowitz: did not serve. Neocon warhawk
  • Vin Weber: did not serve.
  • Richard Perle: did not serve. Neocon warhawk
  • Rudy Giuliani: did not serve.
  • George Pataki: did not serve.
  • Newt Gingrich: did not serve.
  • Don Rumsfeld: served in Navy (1954-57) as flight instructor.
  • George W. Bush: failed to complete his six-year National Guard; got assigned Alabama so he could campaign for family friend running for U.S. Senate; failed to show up for required medical exam, disappeared from duty.
  • Ronald Reagan: due to poor eyesight, served in a non-combat role making movies.
  • B-1 Bob Dornan: Consciously enlisted after fighting was over in Korea.
  • Phil Gramm: did not serve.
  • John McCain: Vietnam POW, Silver Star, Bronze Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart and Distinguished Flying Cross. Remember how the Bush campaign trashed him in the Republican primaries in 2000?
  • Dana Rohrabacher: did not serve.
  • John M. McHugh: did not serve.
  • Mitch McConnell: did not serve.
  • JC Watts: did not serve.
  • Roy Blunt: did not serve.
  • Jack Kemp: did not serve. "Knee problem, " although continued in NFL for 8 years as quarterback. (Win one for the Gipper!!)
  • Dan Quayle: Journalism unit of the Indiana National Guard.
  • Spencer Abraham: did not serve.
  • John Engler: did not serve.
  • Douglas Feith: did not serve.
  • Eliot Abrams: did not serve.
  • Richard Shelby: did not serve.
  • Jon Kyl: did not serve.
  • Tim Hutchison: did not serve.
  • Christopher Cox: did not serve.
  • Lindsey Graham: National Guard lawyer.
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger: AWOL from Austrian army base. (Our gift from Austria)

· and, Saxby Chambliss: did not serve. "Bad knee." This is the man who attacked Max Cleland's patriotism.

Pundits & Preachers

  • Pat Buchanan: did not serve.
  • Bill Kristol: did not serve.
  • Rush Limbaugh: did not serve (4-F with a 'pilonidal cyst.')
  • Bill O'Reilly: did not serve.
  • George Will: did not serve.
  • Chris Matthews: did not serve.
  • Paul Gigot: did not serve.
  • Bill Bennett: did not serve.
  • Kenneth Starr: did not serve.
  • Antonin Scalia: did not serve.
  • Clarence Thomas: did not serve.
  • Ralph Reed: did not serve.
  • Michael Medved: did not serve.
  • Charlie Daniels: did not serve.
  • Sean Hannity: did not serve.
  • Michael Savage: did not serve.
  • and, Ted Nugent: did not serve. (He only shoots at things that don't shoot back.)

Hollywood

· Jimmy Stewart (star of such liberal, anti-corporate movies like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and It’s a Wonderful Life): From a family with deep military roots, nearly a year before Pearl Harbor, Stewart tried to join the US Army Air Corps and kept trying until they finally let him in, March 1941. He became the first major movie star to wear a uniform. While petitioning his superiors for combat assignment, Stewart aligned himself with the First Motion Picture Unit and starred and produced a number of training and educational films. Between 1942 and the end of the war, he appeared in nearly a dozen productions, some of which were screened theatrically in civilian theaters. Finally, in late 1943 he was assigned to the 445th Bombardment Group where he soon became its commander. While flying missions over Germany, Stewart was promoted to Major. In 1944 he twice received the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in combat, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. He also received the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters. In July 1944, after flying 20 combat missions, Stewart was made Chief of Staff of the 2nd Combat Bombardment Wing of the Eighth Air Force. Before the war ended he was promoted to Colonel, one of only a few Americans to rise from private to colonel in four years.

· Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night and other liberal nasty work) - Served in Navy during WWII and in the early part of the 1950s when on shore leave in southern US was appalled by the open racism and inequality. This experience gave him a lifelong concern with racial issues and discrimination and spurred his liberal activism.

· Oliver Stone (maker of evil liberal propaganda such as Platoon and JFK): Served in US Army in Vietnam (Apr.’67 – Nov.’68) where he specifically requested combat duty and was assigned to the 25th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division, and was wounded twice in action. Awarded the Bronze Star with "V" device for valor for "extraordinary acts of courage under fire", and the Purple Heart with one Oak Leaf Cluster.

· John Wayne: did not serve

1 comment:

Taras said...

I heard that Clinton's draft dodging was a big issue for Republicans. Well, IMHO, their own hall of fame looks far more impressive;)